Abstract
It would be nice to believe that we’ve discovered some entirely new form of urbanism, but the truth is that the impulse to create temporary or low-cost responses to the challenges of urban life is not new. Here, we have reframed a set of core placemaking values (temporary, low-cost, flexible, iterative, participatory) found throughout history and updated them for the digital age. From provisional Roman military encampments, to les bouquinistes illegally selling books along the banks of the Seine in sixteenth-century Paris, to the temporary White City of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1892, the hallmarks of Tactical Urbanism have been inscribed in city-building patterns throughout history.
Before the city was the hamlet and the shrine and the village: before the village, the camp, the cache, the cave, the cairn; and before all these there was a disposition to social life that man plainly shares with many animal species.
—LEWIS MUMFORD
The City in History
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Notes
- 1.
Lewis Mumford, The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects (New York: Mariner Books, 1968), 5.
- 2.
“The first true street of which we have a record may be in Khirokitia, a hilltop settlement of the sixth millennium BC in southern Cyprus.… By explicitly defining and articulating an outdoor space for the common good, the people assume a double responsibility: the upkeep of this space and its preservation as public property. A public way, by definition, belongs to everybody. Steady repair and alteration of the main street during its protracted life show that the community was not innocent of ‘civic’ duty.” Spiro K. Kostoff, The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings through History (Thames & Hudson, Limited, 1999), 48–49. See also http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/848.
- 3.
- 4.
“Such spontaneous councils expressed the human consensus, not so much ruling and making new decisions as giving some immediate application to accepted rules and to decisions made in an immemorial past.” Mumford, City in History, 19.
- 5.
Albert Z. Guttenberg, “The Woonerf: A Social Invention in Urban Structure,” ITE Journal, October 1981, http://www.ite.org/traffic/documents/JJA81A17.pdf.
- 6.
Reid H. Ewing, “A Brief History of Traffic Calming,” in Traffic Calming: State of the Practice (Washington, DC: ITE/FHWA, August 1999), http://www.ite.org/traffic/tcsop/chapter2.pdf.
- 7.
Kostoff, The City Shaped, 43.
- 8.
Frank Miranda, “Castra et Coloniae: The Role of the Roman Army in the Romanization and Urbanization of Spain,” Quaestio: The UCLA Undergraduate History Journal (2002). Phi Alpha Theta: History Honors Society, UCLA Theta Upsilon Chapter, UCLA Department of History.
- 9.
“The colonist had little time to get the lay of the land or explore the resources of a site: by simplifying his spatial order, he provided for a swift and roughly equal distribution of building lots.” Mumford, City in History, 193.
- 10.
Murray N. Rothbard, “Pennsylvania’s Anarchist Experiment: 1681–1690,” in Conceived in Liberty, Vol. 1, by Murray N. Rothbard (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute: Advancing Austrian Economics, Liberty, and Peace, July 8, 2005), http://mises.org/daily/1865.
- 11.
Tuomi J. Forrest, “William Penn Plans the City,” in William Penn: Visionary Proprietor, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/PENN/pnplan.html.
- 12.
- 13.
“Canadian Aladdin houses were precut at the factory and shipped to the railway station closest to the customer. The lumber and materials were accompanied by a detailed set of blueprints and construction manual. Aladdin boasted that anyone who could swing a hammer could build an Aladdin Home and they offered to pay $1 per knot for every knot you could find in a carload of Aladdin lumber. Imagine that guarantee today: The lumberyard would owe us money.” Les Henry, “Mail-Order Houses,” in Before E-Commerce: A History of Canadian Mail-Order Catalogues, Canadian Museum of History, http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/catalog/cat2104e.shtml.
- 14.
“For the first time in the history of the world, middle class families in the late nineteenth century could reasonably expect to buy a detached home on an accessible lot.… The real price of shelter in the United States was lower than in the Old World.” Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 136.
- 15.
“The houses in a streetcar suburb were generally narrow in width compared to later homes, and Arts and Crafts movement styles like the California Bungalow and American Foursquare were most popular. These houses were typically purchased by catalog and many of the materials arrived by railcar, with some local touches added as the house was assembled. The earliest streetcar suburbs sometimes had more ornate styles, including late Victorian and Stick. The houses of streetcar suburbs, whatever the style, tended to have prominent front porches, while driveways and built-in garages were rare, reflecting the pedestrian-focused nature of the streets when the houses were initially built. Setbacks between houses were not nearly as small as in older neighborhoods (where they were sometimes nonexistent), but houses were still typically built on lots no wider than 30 to 40 feet.” Josef W. Konvitz, “Patterns in the Development of Urban Infrastructure,” American Urbanism: A Historiographical Overview (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 1987), 204.
- 16.
Alan Trachtenberg, The Incorporation of America: Culture and Society in the Gilded Age (New York: Macmillan, 2007), 231.
- 17.
“World’s Columbian Exposition,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition.
- 18.
“The only harm of aged buildings to a city district or street is the harm that eventually comes of nothing but old age—the harm that lies in everything being old and everything becoming worn out.” Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Vintage, 1992, Reissue), 189.
- 19.
Lisa Halverstadt, “Inspiration for Plaza de Panama: Bryant Park, Zócalo and Red Square,” Voice of San Diego, July 29, 2013, http://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/07/29/inspiration-for-plaza-de-panama-bryant-park-zocalo-and-red-square/. See also Gene Cubbinson, “Parking Lot Removed in Plaza de Panama,” NBC San Diego, June 10, 2013, http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Parking-Lot-Removed-in-Plaza-de-Panama-Balboa-Park-210837961.html; Lauren Steussy, “Timeline: Plaza de Panama,” NBC San Diego, June 10, 2013, http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/politics/Timeline-Plaza-de-Panama-138954679.html.
- 20.
Donald Appleyard, Livable Streets (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982); Carmen Hass-Klau, The Pedestrian and City Traffic (New York: Wiley, 1990); “Play Streets,” Center for Active Design, http://centerforactivedesign.org/playstreets/. “Reclaiming the Residential Street as Play Space,” International Play Journal 4 (1996): 91–97, http://ecoplan.org/children/general/tranter.htm; “Pedestrians,” New York City DOT, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/publicplaza-sites.shtml; “PAL Play Streets,” Police Athletic League, http://www.palnyc.org/800-PAL-4KIDS/Program.aspx?id=30; “History,” Police Athletic League, http://www.palnyc.org/800-pal-4kids/history.aspx; “Play Streets,” Missouri Revised Statutes: Chapter 300, Model Traffic Ordinance, http://www.moga.mo.gov/statuteSearch/StatHtml/3000000348.htm; “About Play Streets,” Partnership for a Healthier America, http://ahealthieramerica.org/play-streets/about-play-streets/; “Plan Safe Streets for Children’s Play,” New York Times, May 7, 1909, http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F01E7DF 1E31E733A25754C0A9639C946897D6CF; http://www.londonplay.org.uk/file/1333.pdf.
- 21.
Claire Duffin, “Streets Are Alive with the Sound of Children Playing,” Telegraph, February 22, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/10654330/Streets-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-children-playing.html.
- 22.
Ibid.
- 23.
Bonnie Ora Sherk interview, August 2013.
- 24.
Peter Cavagnaro, “Q & A: Bonnie Ora Sherk and the Performance of Being,” University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, June 2012, http://blook.bampfa.berkeley.edu/2012/06/q-a-bonnie-ora-sherk-and-the-performance-of-being.html.
- 25.
“Early Public Landscape Art by Bonnie Ora Sherk Featured in SFMOMA Show—SF’s Original “Parklet,” A Living Library, December 2011, http://www.alivinglibrary.org/blog/art-landscape-architecture-systemic-design/early-art-bonnie-ora-sherk-featured-sfmoma-show.
- 26.
“The Perambulating Library,” Mealsgate.org.uk—The George Moore Connection, The British Workman, February 1, 1857, http://www.mealsgate.org.uk/perambulating-library.php.
- 27.
From On the Trail of the Book Wagon, by Mary Titcomb, two papers read at the meeting of the American Library Association, June 1909.
- 28.
Ward Andrews, “The Mobile Library: The Sketchbook Project Gets a Totable Home + Tour,” Design.org, http://design.org/blog/mobile-library-sketchbook-project-gets-totable-home-tour.
- 29.
Todd Feathers, “Mobile City Hall Truck to Rotate through Boston Neighborhoods,” The Boston Globe, June 15, 2013, http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/06/25/mobile-city-hall-truck-rotate-through-boston-neighborhoods/Uyf66jFaC1q0pi03ff6H6M/story.html.
- 30.
Liz Danzico, “Histories of the Traveling Libraries,” Bobulate: for Intentional Organization, October 26, 2011, http://bobulate.com/post/11938328379/histories-of-the-traveling-libraries; Orty Ortwein, “Before the Automobile: The First Mobile Libraries,” Bookmobiles: A History, May 3, 2013, http://bookmobiles.wordpress. com/2013/05/03/before-the-automobile-the-first-mobile-libraries/; “Mobile Libraries,” American Library Association, http://www.ala.org/tools/mobile-libraries; Leo Hickman, “Is the Mobile Library Dead?” The Guardian, April 7, 2010, http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/07/mobile-libraries.
- 31.
“Bouquinistes of Paris,” French Moments, http://www.frenchmoments.eu/bouquinistes-of-paris/.
- 32.
Kristin Kusnic Michel, “Paris’ Riverside Bouquinistes,” Rick Steves’ Europe, http://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/paris-riverside-bouquinistes.
- 33.
Olivia Snaije, “Paris’ Seine-Side Bookselling Bouquinistes Tout Trinkets, but City Hall Cries ‘Non,’” Publishing Perspectives, October 19, 2010, http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/10/paris-seine-side-bookselling-bouquinistes/Michel; “Paris’ Riverside Bouquinistes,” http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/france/bouquinistes.htm.
- 34.
“Rhode Island (RI) Diners,” VisitNewEngland.com, http://www.visitri.com/rhodeisland_diners.html.
- 35.
This is still in service today as the last known horse-drawn lunch wagon.
- 36.
Kristine Hass, “Hoo Am I? A Look at the Owl Night Lunch Wagon,” The Henry Ford, May 15, 2012, http://blog.thehenryford.org/2012/05/hoo-am-i-a-look-at-the-owl-night-lunch-wagon/.
- 37.
Gustavo Arellano, “Tamales, L.A.’s Original Street Food,” Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2011, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/08/food/la-fo-tamales-20110908.
- 38.
Jesus Sanchez, “King Taco Got Start in Old Ice Cream Van,” Los Angeles Times, November 16, 1987, http://articles.latimes.com/1987-11-16/business/fi-14263_1_ice-cream-truck; Romy Oltuski, “The Food Truck: A Photographic Retrospective,” FlavorWire, September 27, 2011, http://flavorwire.com/213637/the-food-truck-a-photographic-retrospective/view-all/; “Food Truck,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_truck; Anna Brones, “Food History: The History of Food Trucks,” Ecosalon, June 20, 2013, http://ecosalon.com/food-history-of-food-trucks/; Richard Myrick, “The Complete History of American Food Trucks,” Mobile Cuisine, July 2, 2012, http://mobile-cuisine.com/business/the-history-of-american-food-trucks/3/.
- 39.
Stephanie Buck and Lindsey McCormack, “The Rise of the Social Food Truck [INFOGRAPHIC],” Mashable, August 4, 2011, http://mashable.com/2011/08/04/food-truck-history-infographic/.
- 40.
A 1977 Mexican food vendor busted by the police for violating new ordinances controlling the sale of street food, 1977, http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/john-griffith-taco-cart-busted-dec-1977-can8600f-600x5001.jpg?w=598&h=463.
- 41.
Don Babwin, “Chicago Food Trucks: City Council Overwhelmingly Approves Mayor’s Ordinance,” Huffington Post, July 25, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/chicago-food-trucks-alder_0_n_1701249.html.
- 42.
Bill Thompson, “The Chuck Wagon,” American Chuck Wagon Association, http://americanchuckwagon.org/chuck-wagon-history.html.
- 43.
“Nevertheless, we recognize indefinable sense of well-being and which we want to return to, time and again. So that original notion of ritual, of repeated celebration or reverence, is still inherent in the phrase. It is not a temporary response, for it persists and brings us back, reminding us of previous visits.” John Brinckerhoff Jackson, A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994).
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Lydon, M., Garcia, A. (2015). Inspirations and Antecedents of Tactical Urbanism. In: Tactical Urbanism. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-567-0_2
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